Penn's founder had radical ideas for the curriculum, but his plan never saw the light of day, according to University archivist Mark Frazier Lloyd.
In a lecture last night, Lloyd shed light on some little-known details of the University's early days.
Famous evangelist George Whitefield chartered a religious school in the city in 1740, but that institution never opened. Instead, Benjamin Franklin and several other leading citizens proposed the Philadelphia Academy -- a University forerunner. Voted president in 1749, Franklin's vision soon ran up against the realities of office politics, Lloyd said.
Breaking with the tradition of a curriculum focused on educating men for the clergy, Franklin wrote a proposal for the University's curriculum entitled "Idea of the English School" in 1751. Lloyd described the proposal as urging a practical education in the reading, writing and speaking of English.
Once a mastery of these subjects was demonstrated, under Franklin's plan students could begin studying other liberal arts. Lloyd described the program of study as "reading like an English major, with a minor in the Classics," as opposed to traditional instruction which focused heavily on Greek and Latin.
However, Lloyd said that Franklin's proposal largely failed, reflecting a deep ideological divide between conservative religious authorities and Quaker egalitarianism. In 1756, while busy with his new job as postmaster general, Franklin was voted out as president of the school by the trustees.
"It is unfortunate that [Franklin's curriculum] was never tried," Lloyd said.
Providing the introduction for the evening was Michael T. Ryan, Director of the Annenberg Rare Book & Manuscript Library. He said Franklin's ideas were "ahead of their time."
"The idea was to create a school as an alternative to Harvard, Yale and Princeton," Ryan said.
As a consequense of Franklin's loss of influence at the Academy, Lloyd said, graduates could not earn a B.S. until 1852, and were required to take both Latin and Greek until 1914.
The display was organized by Penn Rare Book & Manuscript Libarian John Pollack.
"We're talking about Benjamin Franklin's ideas, but putting them in the world he lived," Pollack said.
